


False Idols

by orphan_account



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Castiel Does Not Understand, Gabriel Has Issues, Gabriel Needs a Hug, Gen, God speaks to Castiel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-19
Updated: 2016-05-19
Packaged: 2018-06-09 08:54:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6899446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel is barely an angel anymore. Gabriel is more of an angel than he has ever been.</p>
            </blockquote>





	False Idols

**Author's Note:**

> I like Cas and Gabriel. I like exploring their dynamic. That's it. That's the premise.

Castiel finds Gabriel on a mountain top in the Himalayas. He is perched on the uppermost crest of the mountain, overlooking the snowy peaks with an ancient intensity Castiel has not seen in his older brother for millennia. Gabriel’s aura stretches across dimensions, powerful and old as the wind. Even in solitude, cut off from the host, Gabriel is lit up by holy fire. Unlike most angels, whose wings are shadow and light, moulded from the twin pillars of the universe, Gabriel is made of holy fire. His true form is ablaze with reds, pinks, oranges, blues, whites, golds and greens, every conceivable colour reaching out, snapping at the air, great licking tongues of fire and light. 

He hurts to look at. 

It was once said that to look on the Archangel Gabriel was to reveal the true measure of a holy man. Only the most righteous, the most just, the most pious could look upon God’s messenger. Back when the Earth was new and humanity was still learning the taste of corruption, Gabriel had struck down any who dared flee from his presence, angel and human alike; taking their cowardice and fear as a declaration of disloyalty to God. 

Just skirting the edges of his brothers’ power makes Castiel’s own etheric body tremble in remembrance of righteous fury. Gabriel’s holy wrath was a creature of legend, a great and terrible force that sought out beggars and kings alike and brought entire empires to their knees. Lucifer was God’s favoured son, Michael his most trusted lieutenant, but Gabriel was his fury and his judgement. Gabriel was the face of God on Earth. 

_“You shouldn’t be here Castiel.”_ Gabriel’s touch floats across his mind, incongruously gentle, but with a depth of power that shakes Castiel somewhere primal, where his fear of Gabriel still lives. _“Good little soldier.”_

He sounds amused.

Castiel is not a good soldier. He used to be, back when Gabriel was still the righteous angel of judgement, spreading the Word of God to kings and priests; when Castiel was just a foot soldier in Anael’s garrison, tearing down false gods and their temples. They’ve both changed too much to go back to the way things were. Gabriel’s too savage, impulsive and undisciplined from his time as a Pagan God. Gabriel will never be what he was, and Castiel… well. The Castiel that _was_ is an entirely different angel to the one that stands on the top of mountains, willing to go toe to toe with an archangel, with Lucifer himself, for love of humanity. For love of his friends.

 _“Maybe once,”_ Castiel allows. He joins his brother looking over the mountains. It is easier to see God’s majesty here, where monoliths rise up from the Earth, grand and stout against the elements. Here, the mountains endure, as they always have, as they always will. There is comfort in that.

_“Everything falls brother. Once day, even the mountains will crumble under the weight of the wind.”_

Castiel realigns his gaze, seeing Gabriel’s human form beneath the riotous colours of his angelic presence. 

Gabriel’s vessel is a smudge of colour, so small and faint Castiel can barely perceive it through his etheric form, but as Gabriel stands and comes closer, he can see the changes in form his destruction and consequent revival has wrought. His vessel is tall and dark-skinned, a construction of atoms held together by grace rather than the borrowed body of a human. Castiel wonders if father gifted it to him after his last vessel was destroyed, or if he made it for himself. With Michael and Lucifer in the pit, and Raphael banished by God after the War in Heaven, Gabriel is the last remaining Archangel, the keeper of all God’s power.

God has been absent from heaven for a long time, but this is the first time Castiel truly feels his father’s absence. The sensation of loss, of abandonment must be thousand-fold for Gabriel who holds the weight of the whole host on his shoulders. They all felt it, the moment father disappeared. 

The angels’ cries must be excruciating.

 _“Why are you here?”_ Gabriel asks.

He sounds tired.

Castiel considers explaining, telling his brother about God’s appearance in one of Castiel’s dreams, his final wishes, his fear for his first born, his guilt, and his sorrow. But Castiel remembers Gabriel, remembers his wrath with a visceral clarity that makes him instinctively cautious.

_“Father has given me one last task.”_

Now that Castiel is watching, he sees Gabriel’s lips twitch, bitterly amused.

_“I thought father was done giving orders.”_

Castiel inclines his head, acknowledging, and tentatively reaches out, letting his etheric body commune with Gabriel’s for the first time in many ages. 

Gabriel jolts, but after a moment, his shoulders slump and he reaches out for Castiel in return. His presence is like lightening, charging what little Grace Castiel still possesses until he almost feels whole again.

He turns to Gabriel, surprised, and the Archangel shrugs. 

_“It was getting kinda sad watching you mope kiddo,”_ Gabriel says. He looks at Castiel, unusually cautious. _“Besides, how’re you supposed to wrangle all those angels with no juice?”_

Castiel frowns. Gabriel cannot mean...

_“I cannot rule Heaven Gabriel,"_ Castiel says carefully, but firmly. 

Gabriel huffs.

_“Well I sure aint doing it. Have you seen that clusterfuck? I’m not cleaning up Michael and Lucy's mess. I've had enough of that for several lifetimes.”_

_“Gabriel,”_ Castiel says, admonishing. _“Michael is not here. There is no one else.”_

Gabriel’s shoulders hunch further. 

_“You’re not chopped liver Castiel. Sure, there was a time I thought you were just another one of Zachariah’s prissy little butt boys, but congratulations! You’ve proven yourself much more than that. Somehow you won the game no one should have been able to win. Your prize, you get to fix heaven! Go Team Free Will! You and the Winchesters wanted to ice the devil, congrats, you got a two for one. Now you get to save Heaven as well.”_ Gabriel folds his hands behind his head, and Castiel is struck by how human the gesture is. _“This is what you signed up for when you rebelled Castiel. Anarchy is the price of Free Will.”_

 _“So this is my punishment,”_ Castiel says. Some small part of him is relieved to finally face it. He has been waiting for Gabriel’s judgment since the moment he reappeared in Castiel’s life. _“I thought, when it came time for you to hand down my sentence, it would be more damning.”_

 _“This is not a punishment Castiel,”_ Gabriel says. _“It’s a promotion.”_

Castiel shakes his head, remembering father’s words, his counsel. 

Castiel fought and gave his life for Free Will. He is no longer bounds by Heaven’s orders.

_“I do not want it.”_

Like a dam breaking, Gabriel is in his space in moments, a vision of righteous fury, his vessel swallowed by the full strength of an Archangel. The sky is lit up, a holy aurora borealis. Thunderclouds close in and the mountain caps gleam silver in the gloom. Lightning strikes the mountain, feet from where they are standing. Castiel taste Ozone on the air.

 _“You do not have a choice,”_ Gabriel hisses. His face changes, something ancient rising up from deep within him, overshadowing the trickster. _“I am the last Archangel. You are answerable to me, little soldier. You will obey, or you will burn.”_

Castiel shakes. He can’t help it. He is overwhelmed by his brother’s presence. He feels as though he is a candle flame flickering in the middle of a hurricane. Not even against Lucifer was he so outclassed. At least Lucifer had his madness. Gabriel has no such handicap. He is focused, deadly- and he is remembering.

 _“I’m old Castiel. Older than the mountains, older than the wind, older than the light and the shadow that you are spun from. I witnessed your creation. I witnessed the creation of all my brothers and sisters, save two, and they’re both gone; trapped in eternal torment, because of you and your precious friends. You do not have the luxury of saying no to me. No one does. There is no higher authority.”_ Gabriel laughs. A thunderclap echoes over the mountain. _“God is dead! There is no one left. Only me. This is what I am: punishment, judgement, righteous fury. This is all I am. I am not a leader Castiel, but you could be.”_

The clouds start to disperse, and Gabriel loses his wild edge, simmering down under his fury is a broil under the surface. Gabriel touches his chin, turns his face up to meet his eyes. Castiel wants to shy away. He doesn’t want to see those eyes. He doesn’t want to see them watch, unflinching and righteous, as Gabriel tears him apart.

_“Castiel, look at me.”_

Castiel is weak and graceless, but Gabriel’s voice still compels him. 

_“I trust you. I trust your judgement. That is a rare thing. I'm done Castiel, and there is only you now.”_

Gabriel looks at him, _really_ looks at him, and Castiel understands.

Still, he shakes his head. He can’t comprehend what Gabriel is saying. This can’t be what God wanted. Gabriel needs to find himself again. That’s what God said. He needs guidance, help only Castiel can provide. 

God could not have meant this. How is Gabriel supposed to find himself away from Heaven? Gabriel has been away from Heaven for centuries and all he has done is lose himself in booze and women and mischief. 

_“No one will listen to me Gabriel. I am a soldier, and not even a particularly good one. I rebelled against Heaven. They believe I am the reason father left. They will never respect my authority.”_

Gabriel looks back out over the mountains, serene, as if he cannot hear Castiel at all.

_“I am giving you my power Castiel.”_

Castiel grabs Gabriel and wrenches him back around. He wants to shake his brother, like he could rattles sense back into his thick skull.

This makes no sense. None of it.

_“You can’t do that. You don’t have that kind of power Gabriel, and even if you did, I would never want it.”_

Gabriel’s lips twitch. 

_“That’s why you’re the perfect person to have it. No one who ever wanted power has deserved it. You have only ever wanted to serve Castiel.”_ Gabriel touches his face, loving, and Castiel is momentarily overwhelmed. _“This is how you serve.”_

Gabriel lays his hand on Castiel’s forehead.

_“Take up arms, soldier, and do your duty.”_

Castiel closes his eyes and Gabriel’s palm begins to glow.


End file.
